Quote:
Originally Posted by PennBF
I know I am going to take a lot of heat on this but have we lost our moral compass by honoring a person who destroyed the golf images to the young people starting to play golf and not respecting the youth who wait for his autograph only to be ignored. At what point are there consequences for these acts. It would appear that sportsmanship, respect for the game and its historic high sports standards have been sacrificed for just "playing the game". A number of baseball players paid the consequences for violating standards but not golf. What a terrible image for our youth. Golf is much more than playing the game. It stands for honesty, integrity, respect for the game, etc. etc.  |
I think that what baseball players did directly affected there game. In fact they were basically cheating at their game. Tiger cheated in his personal life. Although I agree, he did set a very bad example for today's youth, we can still honor him for his accomplishments on the golf course and berate him for his actions off. But, the PGA Player of the year award simply acknowledges his accomplishments on the golf course.
If a MLB player hit 100 home runs and it was found that he was using illegal drugs to help him do it, the Home Run Crown might not be awarded to him. If on the other hand a player hits 100 home runs and he and his wife divorce because he was found to be cheating, I believe that he would still receive the trophy for the home runs.
Tiger paid a lot of consequences on and off the course for his actions. Off the course obviously, he lost his family and everything that that entails. In the world of golf, many sponsors dropped him and he lost a lot of income. True, some sponsors stood by him and other's picked him up, but he still lost millions because of his behavior.
And no one can say this for sure, but I believe that the whole incident with his wife affected the mental part of his game. He did not win for quite a while after that. You could see that his mental state was not good. He did get back to his winning ways, but as has been pointed out time and time again, he has not won a major since the episode with his wife.
In addition to that, many of his once adoring fans agree with your opinion. While many still regard him as a great golfer, many who once thought of him as an impeccable human, being no longer do. So in effect, his value to some sponsors is not what it once was.
I think that Tiger has paid dearly for his action.